Living in Preston Hollow?

[MOD220]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

That's why I posted the D Mag links so you could get some "outside" insider's scoop on life in the PH neighborhoods.

i don't think the links work any longer?

[MOD220]

Originally Posted by TXNGL

I'm in the PH area (as someone else called it). The elementary schools are fantastic. My daughter is in a magnet school for middle school, which is always an option, but I have friends who have kids at Franklin and Hillcrest and are thriving. When your child is old enough for middle and high school, I think these schools are going to be incredible.

Originally Posted by EDS_

I agree with your thesis. There is a strong move a-foot to step up the public middle and high schools around here.

thats a great point, we're 12 years away from middle school, alot can change. great schools tend to stay great, and some schools improve over time as I hope is the case here.

[SMS_Parent]

thanks for the insightful post, sounds like a great area. I'm still confused on schools though, if it is a wealthy area, shouldn't the children attending be of the wealthy families? I don't understand how the lower income kids get blended in with the higher income kids, unless the neighborhoods themselves are blended, which doesn't seem to be the case. thats how it is in Chicago, but we have $3M houses next to apartments that rent for $600/month, so it makes sense, but I don't see that setup in PH?

The paradox of this area is that many people move here because of the proximity to the best of the Dallas private schools. As a result the public schools draw largely from adjoining areas of town that are primarily Hispanic. Both Withers and Nathan Adams -- which are great schools and have a solid core of neighborhood kids -- are about 80% Hispanic. The school with probably the best overall ethnic diversity in the area is DeGolyer -- which breaks out 45% Hispanic, 40% Anglo, and 15% AA. Neighborhood families in the DeGolyer school zone are much more likely to send their kids to public school -- both because the school is great but also because the neighborhoods that DeGolyer serves aren't as pricey and thus the families are less likely to be able to afford the $22K annual tuition of Hockaday or ESD or even the 15K at Good Shepherd or 6K at the Catholic schools.

what are ballpark figures on catholic and parochial schools in PH?

Both St. Monica and St. Rita have enrollments of around 650 kids in grades K - 8. Tuition is right around $6000 per year. Jesuit has an enrollment right around 1000 students and Ursuline has an enrollment around 800 students. Tuition at Ursuline and Jesuit is about $15,000 per year. All offer excellent educations at a bargain price compared to the other private alternatives and have generations of loyal alumni. (Ursuline is the oldest school in Dallas, Jesuit has a long history, and even St. Monica and St. Rita are on their second and third generations of students. St. Monica has families that live as far away as Lovejoy -- near Allen -- who drive to St. Monica because it is a family tradition -- but both St. Rita and St. Monica are solidly neighborhood schools.)

Is there much concern of neighborhood kids not knowing each other due to all the different schools? on one hand i see it as an issue, on the other, my wife will stay home as i'm sure many other moms do, can't they drive to a friends house?

At the elementary age all of my kids' friends live/lived in the neighborhood -- some within walking distance, most within an easy bike ride -- and older kids do ride bikes in this neighborhood. Now that a couple of my kids are older, their friend groups have become more geographically diverse because Ursuline and Cistercian draw from a much wider geographic area. (Having driving age kids is a beautiful thing!)

I know Dallas is not a "walkable" city overall, but do people walk around anywhere? do they have to walk in the street due to an absence of sidewalks?

The neighborhood where I live is full of recreational walkers. There is little through traffic on my neighborhood streets, so walking in the streets isn't an issue. I regularly see neighborhood residents walking home with laden grocery bag from the organic grocery store. Within easy walking distance from my house are three grocery stores, a tailor, several dry cleaners, several dentists, three or four neighborhood restaurants, two discount department stores, multiple fast food joints, a ballet studio, a florist, several hair and nail salons. This doesn't necessarily mean that people regularly walk to these businesses (other than the grocery store) but they definitely could.

why are there no Preston Hollow people on here, seems like a large area?

There are several posters who live in or grew up in the area, but I guess we just aren't a very vocal bunch.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by MOD220

i don't think the links work any longer?

They worked yesterday. Well, google D Magazine + Neighborhood Spotlight & that should take you to an area of the site where many Dallas neighborhoods are profiled. Russwood Acres, Midway Hollow, and Jan Mar are the 3 North Dallas/ PH area neighborhoods profiled.

[FarNorthDallas]

My son went to daycare/preschool in Preston Hollow at Preston Hollow Methodist in the late 90s and has/had many buddies in Preston Hollow. This was back when Preston Hollow Elementary was still separating classes into white, black and hispanic in an effort to hang on to neighborhood kids - before they got busted with that lawsuit.

The vast vast majority of children from families with money who live in PH are in private schools. Even if they lived in Highland Park ISD, those kids would still be in private school.

The ones who were in public that I knew are in the Preston Hollow/Franklin/Hillcrest feeder zones and as one mom told me whose children attend these schools - "if my daughter wants to be a cheerleader she can be one at Hillcrest." Big fish in a little pond thing going on. Most of the low income hispanics tend not to get involved in school activities, so there's less competition.

DISD buses low income children into Preston Hollow. Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s they were coming from east of Central Expressway. The low income hispanics are not neighborhood kids - at least at Preston Hollow Elementary.

There is a very good DISD Montessori magnet school on Royal in Preston Hollow - called Dealey. If you could get in there that would be a very good school experience. It goes through 8th grade.

True there aren't many sidewalks in the area, so people walk in the streets. The lot sizes are bigger. There are big rebuilds next to small one story original homes, but since the lots are bigger the rebuilds don't feel quite so obnoxious -and they are not cheaply made homes - they are custom, well made. There are also ponds and lakes that some houses back up to, esp north of Royal between Hillcrest and Preston.

[new2aus]

I live in Coppell, but my parents have lived in Preston Hollow for many years (around Park & Preston zoned to Preston Hollow Elementary) . As others have mentioned, I think that most of the kids in this area attend private schools. I think that is why over the years you see more kids from outside the neighborhood attending the schools.

Not sure of your budget, but it is a great area if you can afford a nice house and the private school tuition. If that is a concern the Park Cities gives you great schools but typically smaller lots than Preston Hollow. As others have mentioned on the forum, Coppell has some of the higher taxes in the area, but great schools and a good community feel at a little lower price point.